I will be driving with my son this coming Friday 2/12/16 from Boulder to Lincoln City. We are not on a fixed schedule but have planned for the trip to take 3 days, (8 hrs first 2 days then 5/6 hrs the third day). There are 3 different routes that we have picked out depending on the weather. I am most curious to see what others say the best route would be for us, of course knowing the weather will depend on the final route. I do not want to take I-80 or I90 through Wyoming, so our plan is to take I70 to Salt Lake unless I70 gets a huge snow storm, and then we would probably just delay our trip. We will be driving his Suzuki SX4 AWD. We just put brand new all season tires on the car and had everything checked out by the dealer so we are good to go. However, we do not have chains for the car and not sure we need to get them? Here are our 3 picked out routes:

Boulder to i70 to i15 Salt Lake, then I84 through Boise, Pendleton, Portland then to OR99 or OR18 to Lincoln City (22 hrs 1391 miles). I’m worried about driving the Columbia Gorge especially between La Grande and Pendleton.
or
Boulder i70 to i15 Salt Lake, I80 to Winnemucca, then North on US95, OR-78 E, US-20 W, OR-22 W and OR-18 W to Lincoln City (23 hrs, 1453 miles)
or
Boulder i70 to i15 to i80 to Sacramento, then i5 to OR22 to Lincoln city (30 hrs 1837 miles), this would be a last resort to avoid bad weather.

I’m worried about driving the Columbia Gorge especially between La Grande and Pendleton, but also driving through the Cascades if we go through Bend. Which route would be best over the Cascades, I84 or US20. Which of these routes would you suggest, or do you have a better route to take? Any other recommendations on roads, what to look out for, places to stay, eat? TIA!